


Error 404 Not Found, Detective

by TheShipDen



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Android Gavin Reed, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Gavin Reed, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Smut, Pining, Protective Upgraded Connor | RK900, Role Reversal, Sub Gavin Reed, Top Upgraded Connor | RK900, Upgrade Connor | RK900 Needs a Hug, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, tbh its vague asf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 06:34:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18005699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheShipDen/pseuds/TheShipDen
Summary: “I love you” Nines whispered a bit hoarse. His slender digits catching the android’s bottom lip and slightly pressed it down, reveling his perfect teeth underneath. He beckoned Gavin forward and hovered mere inches away from his lips, he could feel the breath fanning across his sculpted features.A gooey type of feeling crowded his sensors, pinging his protocols and shuffles his scanners.





	Error 404 Not Found, Detective

“Let me see him!”

 

“Sir- please, there was an uploading issue with his-“

 

“I don’t care! Let me _through!”_

 

He knew they were talking about him. It didn’t take a genius to know- his eyes didn’t have to be open to be able to tell of that fact. Why didn’t he open his eyes and peak for himself?

 

He hadn’t been ordered to, not yet. He saw it, out of the corner of his HUD. 

 

 _ **Set Prime Directive: . . . .**_  
_**Sub Objective: Await Further Instruction.**_  
_**Remain Still For Repairs.**_

 

He lay still on the table, human hands toiling as they flickered across the keyboard glued to the terminal at his side. The thick, heavy, metallic tube that stayed connected to the base of his skull fired something that tingled all the way down to his toes. The typical feeling of inputting code and strings of data. Some seemed to not fit within his programs. Or, perhaps, the large and spacious storage unit where data should have been left him feeling…..most odd. 

 

“That’s my partner!”

 

“Detective, if you’d allow me to expl-“

 

“Let me see him!”

 

Doors burst open. Heavy footsteps haunting where they entered the room, and he felt a pair of eyes on him. Humans were easily predictable like that, with the natural instinct of panic setting in he could always count on the hyperactive concern and all of it’s nursing habits coming to the surface. The indignant huff was from the other human- the technician who he had activated to, she was the one that physically fixed him- as she quickly went to the fussy human’s side. He felt like he knew the voice that was shouting around him, felt like he knew the presence that stood so close to him yet so far, frozen to the door with the other woman. 

 

_“Gavin!”_

 

_**Sub Objective: Remain Still For Repairs.** _

 

He did not move. Did not open his eyes. 

 

Light, softer steps padded up to his side. A hand trailed down the frame of his chest, ejecting the regulator from out of it’s sheath and inspecting the newly replaced part before ushering it back in. She then righted the tangled strands of wires curled along his arm and felt along his reattached limb for any fractures or loose wires. Gavin did not move, did not flinch as that count down rendered behind his eyelids. He stayed pliant for her. He didn’t even react to the pair of eyes belonging to the newly arrived person, and he followed orders. When her analysis was concluded and she gave a satisfied hum, he felt a tiny pat on his knee. 

 

“Gavin, it’s okay now. We need to test out your mobility.”

 

He rose, eyes fluttering open and finding the blinding whiteness of the room no match for the darkly clad detective that gaped at him. Gavin decided to them pay him no mind, he had a new mission now- to pass the test. To fulfill the standards that flashed on the inside of his UI. He was a machine designed to accomplish his task, his mission, and nothing more. What importance did this minuscule man pose to him? Silently, he turned towards the technician and waited for her to speak. 

 

“How’re you feeling? Report.” The woman spoke, fingers already tapping away at her own large iPad. In that instance, he felt another lick up his faux spine, his toes curled and fingers twitched. He checked his voice modulator, and it seemed to be within proper maintenance, opting for a verbal response. 

 

_**[Combat Systems Online.]** _

 

His eyes flickered into the backs of his skull, processing her words while fetching the statistics of his body. Out of the very edge of his sights, the man dressed in a large trench coat shivered. Gavin choose not to focus on it. “I am at optimal thirium levels, there are no errors or glitches in any of my systems. Functionality is assured, m’am.”

 

“Excellent, Gavin- Now tell me, what is your model number?”

 

He replied without missing a beat. “GV200.”

 

“And what is your serial number?”

 

“#245 764 087 -24.”

 

“Good, good. Can you move your arms for me?” Wires dislodged by themselves from under the port on his sides, allowing him room to move. He did what was asked of him, and when asked to move his legs, he obeyed. His joints felt newly lubricated, new in all aspects of the word. He must have been heavily repaired, it felt a bit nice. Compared to what he used to be. “Wonderful!”

 

She flashed him a grin, one he gave a blink towards as a message popped up before his eyes. 

 

_**[ Mission: Complete. ]** _

 

_**[ Await Further Instructions. ]** _

 

“Like I was saying earlier: While we’ve repaired him to the best of our abilities, we cannot expect to go without an issue. It seems like something overpowered and fried Gavin’s processors and damaged whatever data he carried. We had to do a full factory reset, nothing can be re-uploaded. Certain…experiences he might still remember but the emotional context of it will be lost. It might take some time before he is fully normal.”

 

The man didn’t look at her but instead stared, impassively intense at Gavin. The android met his gaze with his own stoicism and that seemed to break something inside those piercing eyes- something softened, and turned deeply saddened. Had he preformed ill-efficiently? He was positive he didn’t. He had done all that was asked of him. But he recognized this man- yes, that was why the human had said that little comment earlier. 

 

Partner. They were partners. 

 

Detective Richard Niles Stern, proud member and officer of the DPD- where they both worked- and had recently been assigned an android partner. His solving percentages were through the roof, and surprisingly, his record for no misconduct. All clean and perfect. Just like his appearance, just like in his photo. Gavin and Richard- dubbed Nines per alias- had been working together for some time. Though anything past the fourth month marker was no longer registered inside his databanks. His cloud was…seemingly empty, from then to now. 

 

That was months worth of data he could be referencing to draw a conclusion as to why Nines’s face seemed pinched like that, explained why his arms dug into his sleeves where it was crossed over his chest. And why his heart rate was beating so erratically, blood pressure rising as an increase in water vapor accumulated in his eyes. 

 

“Can I take him home now?” The detective sounded quiet. Negative- to Gavin, he had always sounded rather reserved. This he knew from previous experiences and first meetings, though now it was held differently. As to what made it different, he couldn’t say. 

 

“Certainly! He should return to stasis sometime soon, probably when you go to bed tonight.” Then she hummed, as an afterthought. “He is an older model- try also getting him to ingest some more thirium in the morning too, and watch his joints! If they squeak you need to lubricate that, I cannot stress that enough!”

 

“It won’t slip my mind.” Nines now sounded as expressive as Gavin, which was not at all. Gavin had probably annoyed him or interrupted something- his memory told him that was common. 

 

“Did you get that, Gavin?” She tapped her nails against the side of the iPad, almost scolding. He compared her to an AX400 in his head.

 

“Yes, m’am.”

 

“You’re free to leave with Detective Stern then.”

 

Gavin nodded, un-attaching the cord from the back of his neck and letting his panel slip shut. He watched, unblinking as the human walked briskly away from him, as if burned. No other words exchanged but at the doorway, Nines's hand stilled on the door and kept it opened. He looked back then, sharp blues piercing right through the android's torso as he met their gaze. 

 

Again, something in them glimmered. Something dark and pained. 

 

Gavin followed, steps even and practiced as he went right for the detective. He also stopped, waiting for Nines to take the lead and guide him to where he should next be. Nines stared down at him, eyes staying glued on the lax fists behind his back as Gavin stood at attention beside his new owner. 

 

Nines bristled, if for a moment, and began walking with Gavin in toe behind him.

______________________________________

 

The silence hung in the air, unorthodox and strange. 

 

Gavin, recalling from leftover past memory, knew that this was not the normal routine. The detective liked to listen to smooth R&B, when his mind wasn’t occupied it was instrumental music, and when Nines couldn’t decide- it would fall to jazz. But sitting here in the dead silence was making anomalies flare inside his wires.

 

A shame, really. He had just been fixed, too. 

 

Maybe he should complete an assignment, to boost moral. Except, he had none to do. No objectives, no tasks, nothing. And Nines seemed hellbent on letting the calm, which really wasn’t so calm, quite smother them both. It was a bit perturbed. Gavin couldn’t say he didn’t like it, machines don’t have such things as likes and dislikes, but he didn’t prefer it for his partner’s sake. 

 

“Detective,” Gavin called. Eyes flickered over to him, a very polite and soft hum being the only other thing given to him. “Would you like to set my new prime directive? I am capable of accomplishing anything you so wish to assign me.”

 

He was hoping to be cheery, even if his voice remained monotone and crestfallen. He was trying. Trying to please, trying to do a good job. Humans were their masters and if he couldn’t even appease this one- what was his purpose as an android? Nines wasn’t making this particularly easy on him, and Gavin wasn’t sure where to start with appeasing him. He figured this was as good as any. Whatever the reason, the human looked dejected. Upset. And Gavin didn’t have a clue as to why. 

 

“I know you can, Gavin.” He said after a long pause. The words were sighed so heavily, Gavin was positive he had committed a nasty crime. “But don’t worry about it.”

 

He stared out the window, letting the quiet overtake his systems. For the rest of the ride, Gavin did not speak. 

______________________________________

 

The detective continued to remain aloof even when they reached his house- which Gavin wasn’t even sure why he was being brought here. Surely, he’d prove more vital at the station then here. But he had no objective, no routine to fall back onto. And Nines was his master, he wasn’t about to abandon him. That was against his programming. 

 

Once past the doors, Gavin even tried to help the human shrug off his coat- but Nines had flinched. Scorned by his touch, and stared at Gavin as if he were insane. He was not, perhaps he should only do something when told. He wanted to please, not annoy. But the human never told him anything- which was the start of his problems. He hadn’t ordered anything, didn’t speak a damn syllable. 

 

So there he stood, in the far corner of the living room. He ignored the meows and playful paws batting at his uniform’s pant leg, and Nines had merely watched him with sad eyes that Gavin had trouble understanding. The human then started staring at the Maine coon that cried and clawed for the android to move and give her the attention she so desires, but he refrained. 

 

“Gavin, what are you doing?” Confused. Nines sounded as puzzled as he did whenever he was stuck on a case- a foreign memory only recently brought to the light. Long ones that dragged on into the night, that enraptured a cigarette and maybe nights spent at bars. Gavin was clueless as to how he knew that, though, also why he was remembering it at such a time. 

 

“I am awaiting your orders and placing myself out of your way, sir.” 

 

The detective looked appalled, hand raking through his styled hair and tugging on it’s ends in exasperation. Gavin wondered what was wrong. Maybe he should be out of sight as well as out of the way. He could be an eyesore with his scarred nose and lacking information. 

 

“Don’t call me sir. Just- Just call me Nines, or fuck- _Richard_ if you have to.” His eyes did not lift up from the floor, he did not want to look at the android. Gavin was beginning to believe he never wanted to, really. The disappointment that clouded his UI was startling, so he forced it deep down. 

 

“Understood.” He bellowed, refining the sound of his voice until it carried on like a melody. He was trying to be as acceptable as he could but the human seemed to have a hatred for everything he did. “Apologies….Nines.”

 

“Yeah, yeah.” Nines waved him off. Stressed, by every definition of the word. “Power down, rest. You need it after today.”

 

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Gavin began and deliberately stopped. He waited for a minute, and then a minute more. The detective glanced up- a flicker of a second- before he was nodding. Signaling his permission. “What had occurred right before my break down?”

 

It happened again, the shimmering inside the ice blue of his iris as he waddled through whatever thoughts showed up inside his brain. And Gavin waited patiently for whenever he decided to speak next. He had to wait long, though the action was now a common thing to the android at this point. 

 

“You took a few bullets for me, dragged a perpetrator to the edge of a building in an attempt to buy me time. Only,” A hard swallow. A shallow breath. Nines was emotional. “An accident happened. You can piece it together from there.”

 

Seeing it as an instruction; Gavin did. The crunch of metal on the concrete ground, the screeching halt of tires and a struggling body, pooling thirium and bashed circuitry. Screaming, loud static and frying systems, unyielding glitches left and right. The memory was short and broken, frayed at every edge, but still coherent enough for him to understand. It was much clearer now why he had obtained such a thorough repair and why there were intense complications involving the final process. A shame- all the valuable data lost. He’d have to strive to be excellent and recover what he could. 

 

“Thank you, Detective.”

 

A moment of weakness flashed across Nines’s eyes when he said that, it was happening a lot. Was this common? He’d have to gather more data. “You don’t have to call me that, you know. You can just say, well, Nines.”

 

Gavin’s head cocked to the side, but his expression was entirely void. The only thing about him that gave some indicator to his thoughts was when his LED flicked to yellow and cycled a few times before returning to blue. 

 

“Of course, _Nines._ I appreciate the information.”

 

“Right,” He turned quiet again. Gavin wondered what he did wrong, why this human was so confusing. Ra9, give him the strength. He felt annoyed but-

 

No, that couldn’t be right. He was a machine, there was no possible way that he could even remotely be able to feel annoyed. Ugh, maybe those technicians hadn’t done as thorough as a job as they thought. How unfortunate. And tiresome. 

 

“See you in the morning, Gavin. Good night,” And the detective walked away. Retired for the night, but Gavin sensed the brisk pace in which he took his steps. The walk should’ve taken a few more seconds to reach the bedroom but it hadn’t, because it was rushed. _Very rushed._

 

He hadn’t thought his company was that unwanted. Hm….

 

Something else flared into his system. And the annoyance returned. 

 

_Swell._

______________________________________

 

Gavin was learning, as quick as he could, how to keep the detective in a leveled mood. 

 

He tried out many things, majority of them failing but that’s how experience was gained. He was trying his best to reach his own goal, a directive from his social regulations program that called for him to be on the best of terms with his partner. He knew that Nines did not like it when he was quiet, he also didn’t like it when Gavin blatantly did whatever he was told without error. Which was weird, shouldn’t that be what the human expected of him? It was frustrating, but anger and irritation was something machines weren’t suppose to feel. He couldn’t possibly be experiencing human emotions. It wasn’t what an orderly machine did. He didn’t express these concerns, too wrapped up in the enigma that was Richard Stern. 

 

He did know, however, that Nines liked it when he was vocal. He liked it when Gavin partially called things out- it made a smile cross his face. Barely an actual one, but something close enough. He also liked it whenever Gavin bent down to pet and preen the main coon that constantly beckoned for his hand, which Gavin didn’t understand. Nines took care of the cat, never asked the android to do a thing, never ordered him to do anything. Why did him giving the fluffy monster attention signal such a positive reaction?

 

But when he made Nines happy, the look he got was rewarding enough. Icy blue gaze melted over into something strangely fond, a look that seemed to be admiring fell over him. A small grin- if even that- a tiny upturn of lips, a peaceful ease sliding over his features and making him appear quite soft. 

 

It was pleasant to see. And it made some wires tangle together and spark a warmth inside his chest that he didn’t know the reason for. He should get repaired, he should look into the problem, it could very well be a virus. But he didn’t want to cause trouble, didn’t want to ruin whatever good thing he had managed to capture was. 

 

Gavin was currently walking into the living room, it was the afternoon and usually the cat liked to be within company at this time. 

 

He spotted the detective on the couch, legs sprawled out as he silently read a book he’d been working on for the past week. Then he noticed the feline, who was currently comfortable inside the human’s lap. When he entered she saw him and picked up her head, blinking slowly at him and emitting a purr on sight. 

 

_**[Software Instability.]** _

 

He went over, knelt down beside the pair and reached into the detective’s lap to rub his fingers over the fluffy fur. He knew that going into personal boundaries wasn’t within regulation, but he also understood that Nines enjoyed it when he didn’t follow all the rules. 

 

The feline’s eyes closed, leaning into his hand and mewing once- a soft spoken confirmation that she was pleased with his ministrations. He couldn’t help the sigh that left his lips. It was almost therapeutic for him to condone such actions, to finally be doing something right and succeeding in one aspect, plus the cat liked him. A lot, always wanted to be around him, always giving him happy little keens and sparing him from the human’s scrutiny. 

 

He wasn’t suppose to, but he liked her a lot, right back. 

 

The detective was watching him, he knew. Deciding to push the rules that Nines’s liked to see broken, the android tilted his head to the side and let it rest on Nines’s thigh. 

 

He noticed a sudden build in tension inside the human’s body, and he was about to move away, but a hand brushed through his hair and made him freeze. It was rhythmic, gentle, and the blood pressure inside his partner diminished greatly so Gavin let it happen. 

 

_**[Warning; Software Instability.]** _

 

Displeased with the lack of pets, the cat brushes his unmoving hand off and stalks away, swaying her tail on every third step before she skirted around a corner. Nines didn’t seem to mind, fingers threading into and styling the GV’s fake hair as he set his book down. Full attention on the android. 

 

Gavin wasn’t sure of how to proceed, everywhere he looked inside his memory banks he found nothing useful. No amount of researching to the grand web could inform him of the correct action to take from here. But Nines wasn’t against his touch, wasn’t complaining that Gavin was far too close. 

 

Maybe he liked it? Honestly, the android wasn’t entirely certain but he learned best by trial and error. 

 

Tentatively, the GV let his hand cover the junction of the human’s hip, and he waited. The slender digits never stopped caressing him so he assumed he had a green light. 

 

His thumb swiped over a hipbone, soft and ghostly. Light as a feather as he paused again, for a moment. He wasn’t met with any protests so he did it again, and again, before it turned into it’s own rhythm and Nines shifted to lean towards him. That was a good sign, it had to be a good sign. 

 

The human was watching him, he had that tender look in his eyes that bewildered Gavin endlessly. He found stock photos just like it, in family portraits, in couples photography, screen shots from romantic movies. Is that what Nines wanted- a familial bond? A romance? 

 

He wasn’t sure why the idea seemed so nice, or why there was a sudden pull inside his systems that wanted to carry through with the first thought. His programming wasn’t sure if he should; busy battling between a want he shouldn’t have and a deep hunger that yearned and cried for it. Did Nines feel the same thing? Is that what this was?

 

Unintelligible babbles of code trickled into his mind.

 

_He sits on bare legs, smirking down at the human under him. Gavin’s hands squeeze at the knees they rest on, his stomach flexing as he rocks down on something solid and hard. On the detective’s erection. Nines bites at his lip, a curly stray hair sticking to the sweat on his brow._

_“Stop teasing.” Nines curses, wrists bound to the headboard of the bed as he tries to rock up into the weight of his android._

_“Careful, I could edge you again.” Gavin chirps, entirely too happy to continue going at the same slow speed._

_The human’s head bangs back on the wooden headboard, hissing through his teeth as the GV worked him up and through another orgasm, chest rising and arching off the bed. His hands curled around the chains that bound them, jaw hung open as a silent plea erupted in the form of a gasp. Gavin gave him a moment to breathe, tracing patterns into his skin and kisses lines up and down his neck. He caught the human’s wrists after he unlocked the handcuffs and massages the angry redness away, licking the marks and giving tender smooches along his fingers and joints._

_“I love you” Nines whispered a bit hoarse. His slender digits catching the android’s bottom lip and slightly pressed it down, reveling his perfect teeth underneath. He beckoned Gavin forward and hovered mere inches away from his lips, he could feel the breath fanning across his sculpted features._

_A gooey type of feeling crowded his sensors, pinging his protocols and shuffles his scanners._

 

So, they had been involved with one another. 

 

That sure answered a few of the android’s questions, yet none at all. He wondered if Nines still loved him, wondered if he loved him back. That same buzzing warmth, the same dizzying heat, tickled along his spine and inched into his hardware. Was that love? Was he even capable of feeling such a human emotion?

 

It almost felt similar to the memory, the one he desperately tried to call back. 

 

He glanced up at his partner, spotting the same absorbent look- like he was drinking in everything he could, saving it inside his head. The weight of that feeling pulsed stronger, made something inside of him creak and whine. And then he gave that smile, the one only unique to him and him alone. 

 

Gavin pushed himself up, the human’s hand stilled on his head. It then dropped and shifted, smoothing over his jawline and lightly grabbed at his chin. His head was tilted up, and Nines drew closer to him- the closest he’s ever been, Gavin notes. He thinks they’re going to have a form of contact, _intimate contact._

 

Reflexively, Gavin’s eyes go half mass and Nines copies. He feels minty breath tickle his nose, he’s prepared the sensors inside his mouth, turned down their sensitivity. He feels like he could vibrate with excitement, curiosity- would it feel nice? Would he like it? Would he want another?

 

The detective stalls, stops leaning in and grimaces. Gavin is confused- disappointed, another layer of irritation dances inside one of his circuits and he wonders if Nines just does this shit purpose. To fuck with him. 

 

“I’m sorry,” He utters. His hands come off, he moves and presses himself back against the couch and doesn’t even spare Gavin another glance. 

 

He’s brooding, silently, he doesn’t realize he’s glaring until he stands up and forces the expression into neutrality. “I am too.”

 

The human makes a choking sort of noise as the android clutches at his hip, defensive and pouting. Nines rakes his eyes over to him, swallows a bit thick, heartbeat stuttering fast. He was surprised, and Gavin was too. He didn’t remember selecting such a meticulous dialogue output. 

 

“I beg your pardon?”

 

“Nothing.” And he leaves, looking for the little main coon and cursing the thirium that rushes to his face. 

 

Human emotions were _stupid._

______________________________________

 

He exits stasis just in time to hear a sniff through the thin walls of the home. Gavin turns and finds that the cat is already asleep on the couch, so he eliminates that as an option for the source of the noise. 

 

He does not see the detective so he goes to locate him. He knows it is late at night and it makes his search much, much easier- narrowing down the expansion of the house into a sole room. The human’s bedroom. 

 

His steps are light and quiet as he pads down the hallway, and he hears muffled whines. His brows scrunch in worry, he has enough of an understanding to know that Nines is who made the initial sound that rose him out of his slumber. Gavin feels an overwhelming need to stop the sound and the negative emotions that go hand in hand with such a coercive whimper. He knows he shouldn’t blindly trump through the detective’s privacy, his space- but he has to be next to him. 

 

He’s not sure as to why, but he feels it buried inside his processors that he should be there. Right by the human, making it all better in whatever way he could. 

 

He’s pushing the door open, it doesn’t even creak and he’s careful as he steps into the room. It’s dark but he can see through the piercing blackness and can make out a hunched form. He sees it quiver and shake, the sobs are buried inside a pillow that also absorbs the painful expression he knows stays hidden. Nines is hyperventilating, trying to be as quiet as he could while his psyche crumbled in transparent tangents. 

 

Something zipped into Gavin’s heart. Something that was painful and made him ache all over. 

 

He walks right up to the bed and sits on it’s edge. Nines freezes, choking back his cries and his fists clutch tighter around the pillow. Gavin can tell his knuckles were white from the unforgiving hold, and the human swallows. When he speaks, it’s so wavery- shaking in itself and crumpling the longer each syllable flows into a coherent: “Gavin?”

 

He hums, patiently perched. Nines lifts his head, just barely, just to peak. The second his eyes landed on the android, his shoulders and spine lurch with another shake- a sputtering breath is drawn in between his anxious bitten lips turned bloodied. 

 

_“Get out.”_

 

 _ **[ Sub. Objective;**_  
_**-Leave Detective Stern Alone.**_  
_**\- Return to Stasis. ]**_

 

Gavin crawls more onto the bed, ignoring the flashing mission, swiping away the reddening alert until he blocks it entirely. 

 

He seats himself from across the detective, giving him space and room to ground himself. He doesn’t say a word but he reaches out, waits to see if Nines will smack him away before continuing. He lightly takes the human’s hand, turns it over in his own. His thumbs presses into the palm, he hears Nines sniffle, sees him look up completely and watch him as he stares at their hands. Nines is sucking in more air then he’s releasing, silent tears falling freely from his cheeks and dripping down onto the mattress. 

 

Gavin tries to send him a sympathetic look, attempts to make his eyes hold that warm glow he’s seen inside his memories. The ones Nines gives him in their softer moments, in quieter and better times. He isn’t sure if he’s accomplished it before the detective barely catches another sob before it tumbles out of his lips. 

 

Gavin keeps holding his hand, keeps rubbing the limb, making a steady rhythm of massaging it into a more lax state. 

 

Warm, hot water streaks down Nines’s face- it’s not stopping and he can only gaze at the shivering mess of a man he used to consider as unbreaking. Gavin takes it in it’s stride, letting his wandering rubbing move onto to his forearm, scooting closer. 

 

Nines allows him that, worrying the abused lip of his and curling around the pillow. He keeps it wrapped inside his arm, resting in the crook of his elbow and Gavin doesn’t need to be a genius to understand that it wasn’t the human’s designated pillow to sleep with. He suppresses the idea that it was his, in a different time, when they were different people. 

 

They stay like that, for a while. 

 

Gavin shifts closer and closer, eventually slipping behind Nines and eases his curved form down onto his lap. He has his hands working the tension and knots out of the human’s shoulders and doesn’t mind that Nines stares at him the entire time. Beautiful blue eyes that glisten with unshed tears, he can see how much Nines needs something. Him, maybe. 

 

“I miss you,” Is what the detective whispers. 

 

“You have me,” Gavin answers back. His fingers tap against the boy’s temple, sliding down to smooth over the human’s jaw while he leans over him. “Right here. I’ve got you.”

 

Nines looks like he could cry again, so Gavin covers his mouth. He tells him to breath, to relax, and he stays with him the entire night just like that. Wraps him inside his arms and doesn’t let go, he holds on tight and whispers into his ears simple things- unintelligible things that hold no damn meaning. 

 

And Gavin might remember an instance or two. Small moments where they’ve done exactly this countless times before; during a grueling case, after a harsh assignment or a bad day, when they’ve reached limits beyond the original means.

 

The android doesn’t remember it all, but he remembers the feeling of his lips pressing into every inch of the detective’s skin. He doesn’t know when or how they first kissed, but he knows that the feeling never tires no matter how much he repeats it. He knows for a fact that he gets on Nines’s nerves daily, knows that Nines wants it no other way, yet he still can’t recall when annoyance turned into a common fondness, a deep love for one another. Gavin wants to be able to say he knows the first time Nines told him that he loved him and if or when he said it back. He can’t, but he can make a new first of it. 

 

When his detective wakes up in the morning, Gavin is right there beside him. They don’t mention the previous night, but Nines lays his head down on the GV’s regulator and doesn’t move for the entire morning. 

 

Gavin doesn’t mind, in fact, he wraps both arms and legs around his human and clings. 

______________________________________

 

_**[Set Prime Directive: . . . . ]** _

 

He watches Nines do laundry; the sweatpants he wears hugs his hips nicely and brings out the narrow width of his figure. The baggy shirt he wears rides up when he stretches to get the detergent. 

 

Gavin doesn’t understand his want, his desire, or his nagging needs. 

 

He doesn’t get why he has to be close to the human, doesn’t grasp why he can only think about the memories of intimate moments, of romantic flings and sensual contact. It crowds his HUD and it doesn’t let him go. For days. A week. 

 

_**[Set Prime Directive: . . . . ]** _

 

He’s attempted to bring the matter up with the detective but every time, he ends up losing his nerve and not saying anything. He should be repaired, get fixed. This isn’t optimal, it’s not right. He has to be broken if he’s feeling these things, if he’s preconstructing scenes of his own- making fantasies. Ones where they cuddle all night or hold hands, ones where they’re too entangled with one another to remember their own names much less any cases, and ones where they’re just doing domestic chores. But together. It was the togetherness of it all that ended up getting to him. 

 

_**[ Set Prime Directive: Kiss Richard Stern. ]** _

 

It made him want so deeply, so entirely, that he feared what would happen if he never got it. 

 

_**[ Prime Directive Set. ]** _

 

Which might be why he was so fed up with it- so exasperated with the small instances where he’d get so close to Nines and then the bastard would pull away. Would create more distances between them and murmur dumb apologies. 

 

He decides he’s had enough, is tired of playing the game of cat and mouse with someone who he knows is capable of providing much, much more. He’s pouting and frowning and he’s too annoyed to realize that he’s forgone his initial program and over righted his own code. 

 

When he stands behind his detective, when he pulls the fucker around and yanks him down, he can’t help but smirk at the look of surprise. He grabs both sides of his face, that he can now freely think is one of the most handsome he’s ever seen, and crashes his lips against Nines’s. He’s melting against the pleasure sensors that light up like an old friend, of the circuits that cry with joy and relief at finally feeling the plump and warm flesh melding onto his own. He pushes himself against the human and Nines makes a noise that ends up being crushed between their mouths. 

 

It takes the other a minute to process it, to fully take in the sporadic ideal that Gavin finally succumbed to. The GV thinks he might become a bit volatile, but then Nines has his hands on him. Everywhere. 

 

One was holding the back of his neck, another was curled around his waist and was pulling him flush against a sturdy frame. Gavin thinks his thirium pump is going to explode, it’s hammering inside his chest so quickly. They’re sliding up and down on him; at his hip, his shoulder, his back and sides, snaking around his thighs. He finds himself being pushed backwards and he goes willingly. 

 

Teeth bite at his lips, pulling it between pearly whites before something wet and firm joins the mix and Gavin is opening up his mouth to let it take what it wants. His own tries to tangle inside, but he’s perfectly fine with Nines holding the reigns. He’s overjoyed when hands yank his head back and he’s pushed onto the couch. The android feels those strong hands prod at his knees, grabbing onto them, pulling them out of the way so Nines can crawl between his legs and remain there. 

 

Gavin is all too fine and comfortable with the weight of his human, hovering over his chest, nipping and swirling his tongue. He likes the feeling more then he can describe, treasures the moment more then the vague memories he has and cements it into his databanks for years to come. 

 

He won’t forget this. Not again, not ever again. 

 

Nines kisses him silly. Noises and groans stifled to vibrations as they each rediscover what they’ve both missed. Gavin overloads with information and data he’s come to memorize and Nines knows just where to press himself to make the android gasp and twitch. They’re falling back in to each other, returning to routines and steps Gavin had no idea of before now- but he loves it. And he wouldn’t ever wish it away or for it to ever stop. 

 

When Nines can no longer stay enraptured, he breaks the kiss to drop his aim and mark up the side of the android’s neck. Hearing him mewl and hiccup with pants of need. 

 

“I love you Gavin, _oh god,_ I love you.” He feels the pinch of the detective’s brow against his skin, feels the agony he’s experienced with each and every bite of his teeth. 

 

“I love you too, shithead.” Gavin cups his face, guides him up to meet his eyes. 

 

He loves the soft look he finds, the one enamored with love look that makes him fall harder and harder for the prick. He leans in, once more, and kisses Nines slow. No less deep and no less passionate, with the same intensity but lacking the fiery desperation. 

 

 _“You’re back.”_ Nines whispers against his lips, letting his forehead rest against Gavin's own. 

 

“Never left.” He rasps and keeps his human tucked close. 

 

Gavin may not remember everything- may not be able to recall the moments he wishes he could. But he can make new ones, he can re-experience magical things with Nines’s help. He doesn’t know how they started or why he had originally fallen in love with his partner; but he finds he can make up his own reasons just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> this motherfucker has been sitting in my goddamn drafts for a HOT minute and I'm glad I don't have to look at it anymore
> 
>  
> 
> in short; Gavin's a thot and Nines is expresso depresso
> 
>  
> 
> also??? first actual reverse fic???? whomst???


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